(Back in 2021 for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of WHCS, I wrote these memories. With school starting again this past Tuesday, they were fresh on my mind; hence my decision to post them on my blog!)
Bring some school memories,” they said. “Sure!” I said. “I’ll just wing it! How long do you want me to talk?!”
Because when I think about school, memories flood my mind! But so many memories begin to generate, that my mind feels muddled and I’m not sure I’ll be able to wing it in a way that will make any sense to anyone! Memories of being a student! Of being a teacher! And now of being a school mom! So I begin to write in order to order my mind.
Going back to my beginning at Walnut Hill Christian School as a sorta scared little first grader with spindly braids in Miss Joyce Johnson’s classroom, I fondly remember the structured orderliness. And my own little bunny trash can made of a Quaker Oat can wrapped in calico with a cotton ball tail. After first and second grade, I moved into Miss Susan Smith’s room, never dreaming at that point in time that I would one day be privileged to teach alongside her with her as my mentor. We learned how to speak some Spanish and how to sing La Cucarracha while we built more life blocks on the firm foundation that Miss Johnson and Miss Eraina Koehn had given us. The circle continued, and I moved northward a classroom into Miss Karen Reimer’s room for 4th grade. She enthusiastically read us stories by old fashioned lamplight and let us take turns having Libby the Lobster at our desks. Then I was blessed to have Mrs. Emily Peaster as my teacher for grades 5 & 6. “Character, Character, and more Character!” was a lesson we learned daily! But we also got to spend time in the “booth” in the back of the room, expanding our imaginations with a myriad of puppets and LEGO. We loved when she would pull out her tall black hat and read us, Miss Nelson is Missing. Looking back, Mrs. Peaster was the teacher who lit the flame of my desire to be a teacher! And who was behind the inspiration to always have some sort of Reading Nook in the back of all my classrooms, reminiscent of the old “booth” days! For 7th grade, I went back across the hall into the windowless classroom to be taught by Miss Laurie Toews. She was more than patient with my preteen troubles and even took all of us girls camping on the teachers’ yard! Mr. Cameron Boeckner was my upper grade teacher. My 8th, 9th, and 10th grade years were good years filled with learning more life lessons, having small scale members meetings during revivals, peanut gallery discussions, playing intense volleyball tournaments, honing our budding writing skills with essay after essay, water coloring while listening to classic stories like “The Monkey’s Paw,” skipping classes to chalk the program backdrop for “Mrs. Seymour’s Christmas” that Rhonda had sketched, and painstakingly cutting out all the letters (this was the pre-cricut era) to wrap our classroom in a Christmas carol. A couple years after graduating, I went back to WHCS as an aide. I loved decorating the library and interacting with the students; flashing endless stacks of flash cards, and helping them check out my favorite library books like The Golden Name Day and King of the Wind. Life continued, and I said yes to getting married instead of going to teach in a mission school. Then I was asked to finish a school term at Walnut Hill Christian School which proved to be challenging and inspiring! After signing a contract for the next year, I boarded a plane with my former classmate Vanessa Holdeman, for teachers prep class in Kidron, Ohio! That proved to be an enlightenment! Even though I was so excited and felt ready to teach, there was so much I still needed to learn! And learn I did! Along with my children, I watched our pet garter snake eat trees frogs until it died, sang “Amazing Grace” at the funeral of our beta fish Flo-Flo, and heard things parents probably wished I hadn’t. I struggled watching my kids struggle and wished for better ways to make learning an even playing field. The circle of life went on and I hung up my teaching hat for approximately four years, coming back to finish a term that love had ended. It felt so good to be back, that I ended up teaching two more years! Stargazing parties, Andrew Pudawah writing sessions, PowerPoint presentations with popcorn, the beginning of Barton classes, learning to love and light the windowless classroom, and after school teacher hashes once again made my soul sing! Along with writing, planning, and practicing programs; performing the Joseph’s coat musical, and attempting to give the auditorium a coffee shop feel complete with little tables and chess games for our epic Krispy Kreme donut fundraising evening, I learned that my kids will always feel like my kids. I don’t know how it happened, but somehow I was blessed to be able to teach all the best students of the best parents, have the best co-teachers, and work with the best school board members! I’m sorry for all the rest of you! And I’m sorry for all of you who have never had the privilege of teaching! I’ve always said that teaching is the only job that never felt like a job! Anyway, life goes on and now I’m on the other side! I’m the schoolmom who isn’t sending her child to school loaded with toast and eggs! (Just chocolate milk IS sometimes the best you can do!) Today, I give my thanks to God because it feels like life has come full circle. I was at Walnut Hill Christian School for all of my student days, for all of my teaching days, and now I am more than happy to send my daughter to this school for all of her school days.
